Back to MERP

Back to MERP

Posted by
bearkatz5@sbcglobal.net
at
January 25. 2012

I’m returning to Middle-earth roleplaying after a long-14
year-hiatus. I decided to use Thomas M’s supplemental MERP rules from issue 7
and am enjoying them greatly. We stuck with MERP not because it is the best
system for Middle-earth, but because it is the one I am most familiar with. I had some second thoughts about the professional
bonuses all being assigned at character creation (that is right isn’t it?), but
it does make low level characters somewhat stronger which is probably a good
thing.

I must compliment you
all about the high standards you have set in the Other Minds articles so far. Perhaps
the standard is too high as it makes it intimidating to submit one’s own work.
Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing some news regarding issue 13 sometime
in the not too distant future.

Re: Back to MERP

thanks for the praise concerning the quality of OM. I've heard similar opinions as well (OM having a too high standard), but IMO it's better this way rather the other way round. And there are always people willing to lend a hand and advise one for the improvement of his ideas

I'm particularly happy that you find the MERP house rules useful. I am not sure whether archers might have been made too powerful. Perhaps these additional rules (especially the higher rate of fire) should only apply to stuations where they fire at a group of targets (e.g. in a pitched battle) rather than at specific individuals. For the latter case, MERP's rules (or a halved ROF according to the modifications) should be applied.

Nowadays I see that TOR manages to capture a number of central themes found in many of Tolkien's stories like no game before did. Here I'm thinking of the Hope/Shadow (plus Hate) mechanic as well as the travel rules. It might be an idea to devise some additional MERP house rules to incorporate them as well.

If you think about submitting something yourself, don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have

OM13 is in the process of DTP'ing. Especially the revamped article about demographics in TA Eriador (my own...) is much more challenging than I thought. But I'm making good progress